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Benjamin Clementine has just released the new video for his latest 6Music-supported single ‘Jupiter’, lifted from his critically acclaimed new album, I Tell A Fly out now through Behind / Virgin EMI.
Filmed in New Mexico by Lola Schnabel (daughter of American painter/filmmaker Julian), the video arrives on the tail of a Carnegie Hall show in New York, and ahead of an extensive 20 date UK & European headline tour through November and December, taking in Benjamin’s largest London headline to date at Brixton Academy on December 5 2017. Watch the ‘Jupiter’ video in our video box.
Schnabel’s video captures Benjamin, replete with incongruous Pearly King jacket, shot in the otherworldly landscapes of Albuquerque. Speaking about ‘Jupiter’, which was informed by a US visa which described him as an ‘alien’, Clementine says; “Saying ‘Jupiter’ for me was like saying ‘Europa’, or ‘England’, or ‘Edmonton’. Wandering around in America, there was Trump and Clinton, there was the Orlando attack, the New Orleans attack – here I was thinking I was living in a safe place, but nothing was really safe anymore, or ever. It’s a poke at people being called aliens by some people, like we’re from another planet. I think we’re all forever aliens”.
Whereas At Least For Now looked inwards and backwards, I Tell A Fly (self-written, produced & recorded by Benjamin in Damon Albarn’s Studio 13) looks forwards and outwards; to a changing world, ancient struggles, and the individual response. ‘An alien of extraordinary abilities’ started it all: at first glance, a disarmingly unusual line issued as part of Benjamin’s American visa, but – quickly – the inspiration for a story-led album broadly exploring the concept of the alien, the migrant, the stranger, or the refugee. Throughout, ‘I Tell A Fly’ sees Benjamin use his personal history as a prism through which to view & make sense of the world around him, musically exploring unknown territories whilst maintaining a lifeblood which could not be mistaken for the work of anyone other than himself.
European and UK dates:
12th Nov The October Palace Kiev, Ukraine
13th Nov Izvestia Hall Moscow, Russia
15th Nov The Hall Compensa Vilnius, Lithuania
16th Nov MTP2 Hall Poznan, Poland
18th Nov Elbphilarmonie Hamburg, Germany
19th Nov Philharmonie Munich Munich, Germany
20th Nov Köln Philharmonic Hall Köln, Germany
21st Nov Berlin Philharmonie Berlin, Germany
22nd Nov Konzerthaus Dortmund Dortmund, Germany
27th Nov Philharmonie Luxembourg Luxembourg
28th Nov De Doelen Rotterdam, Netherlands
30th Nov Dome Concert Hall Brighton, UK
1st Dec Birmingham Town Hall Birmingham, UK
3rd Dec O2 Academy Leeds, UK
4th Dec The Ritz Manchester, UK
5th Dec Brixton Academy London, UK
6th Dec The Sage Gateshead Gateshead, UK
8th Dec Colston Hall One Bristol, UK
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Tweets by MrBClementine
“Clementine is a musical George Orwell for our time” NPR
“Uniquely charged….follow Clementine’s muse and the pay-off is huge“ **** – Mojo
“It’s hard not to cheer this most singular and self-possessed of pop artists, one who positively exults in his uniqueness” **** Album Of The Week – The Independent
“An operatic odyssey” **** – Q Magazine
“Supremely confident as it is poetically singular, it’s evidence that BC’s vision will see him through the long haul” 8/10 Uncut
“Magic, soul and grace from one of the most interesting artists around” – NME
“Truly extraordinary” – Sunday Times Culture
“Like many of the great artists, he perpetually exudes an otherworldliness. With I Tell A Fly, Clementine proves his is indeed an artist of extraordinary ability” The Line of Best Fit
“An ambitious new album of avant-garde and politically engagé gothic chansons, which touch on everything from psychoanalysis to Syria. Out of this world in every sense.” – Mr Porter
“Two years after the Mercury win and with plenty on his mind, the 28 year old is far from lacking in fresh ideas” – Noisey